Plants contain a variety of chemical compounds that are used to perform important biological functions within the plant to defend against attack from predators such as insects, fungi, and herbivorous animals. Known as “phytochemicals,” these compounds can provide benefits on long-term or short-term health or mental state when consumed by humans, and many can be effectively used to treat human diseases and other conditions.
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled as combustion releases active substances such as nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. The most common method of smoking today is through cigarettes, which are primarily industrially manufactured but may also be hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Many other smoking implements exist, including cigars, pipes, bidis, hookahs, vaporizers, and bongs.
Smoking in the conventional sense, through inhalation of smoke as a byproduct of the combustion of the material to be smoked can be hazardous to one's health due to the existence of several irritating, toxic, and carcinogenic compounds in the smoke. The hazards of breathing in smoke containing harmful compounds from the combustion of herbal medicines, nicotine, and like plants may, in some cases, outweigh any benefits gained through the human consumption of plant phytochemical compounds.
One common alternative to smoking plants via combustion is to use a vaporizer. Vaporization is an alternative to burning that avoids the inhalation of many irritating toxic and carcinogenic by-products. During vaporization, the substance to be vaporized is heated to a temperature below its combustion point but high enough to release the active ingredient within a vapor. Very little or no combustion occurs during the vaporization process, so excessive ashy smokiness is largely avoided by vaporization of a material to be smoked or consumed.
Prior art vaporizors for consuming herbal oils and resins are generally well known. In one configuration, a portable pen-sized vaporizer device is provided with an elongated heating chamber, a battery, and a mouthpiece. This prior art device uses power from the battery to heat an element that comes into contact with oil, resin, or other material to be consumed, vaporizing the material within a chamber and releasing the smoke to a mouthpiece where it can be consumed by the user. These pen-sized vaporizers offer a relatively short or direct path for the vapor from the heating element to the mouth, thereby creating a somewhat hot and harsh experience that can contain relatively large droplets of suspended oil or resin within the vapor. Where the vapor to be consumed is relatively hot or where the vapor to be consumed includes relatively large droplets, the enjoyment of the smoking experience is decreased.
In another configuration of the prior art, a rig is provided that utilizes a super-heated metallic pin or nail, where the metallic pin is heated and put into contact with the oil, resin, or other material. In this rig configuration, the super-heated pin or nail is dabbed into the oil, resin, or other material to be smoked or consumed and thereafter quickly placed into a receptacle. The receptacle is in communication with another chamber filled with liquid such as water. Vapor from the super-heated pin or rod is pulled through the liquid and into a mouthpiece where it may be consumed by the user. Vaporized oil or resin consumed through the rig configuration is typically smoother and free of large droplets of water, however, this rig configuration involves several pieces and steps in order to deliver a smooth, easily consumable vapor stream.
As described above, prior art vaporizer devices for smoking herbal oils or resins involve complex arrangements, requiring battery power and multiple pieces for operation. In the case of the rig configuration, this prior art vaporizor device is also typically quite large and unable to be carried safely or easily in a pocket or purse. Furthermore, the pen-sized vaporizer, while small and compact, does an inadequate job of removing the large particles from the vapor, decreasing the smoothness and overall enjoyment of the smoking experience.
Accordingly, there is a need for a compact smoking apparatus for use with herbal oils and resins that delivers a smooth smoking experience with vaporized oil that is relatively free of large particles or droplets and sufficiently cool to be consumed by the user in a pleasant manner.